Special US forces captured in northern Iraq responsible for the development unit of chemical weapons extremist group "Islamic State" (EI), informed the news agency Associated Press and the American newspaper The New York Times on Wednesday ( 09/03).
The jihadist was identified with Sleiman Daoud al-Afari, an expert on chemical and biological weapons that worked for former dictator Saddam Hussein. US officials said he was the leader of the newly created sector research and development of EI's chemical arsenal.
Al-Afari was captured about a month after the arrival of a special operations force the US to Iraq. That was the first American terrestrial troops sent to the country since the United States withdrew from the region in 2011.
In his interrogation, Al-Afari gave details on how the "Islamic state" could carry the mustard gas in armaments. Officials said the concentration of the gas did not make him lethal, but he could maim people.
US Defense Department sources said the United States do not intend to hold the captured indefinitely and that he will be transferred to Iraqi and Kurdish authorities, after the end of the questioning.
US officials confirmed on Wednesday bombings carried out in recent days to places where extremists stockpiled chemical weapons in Iraq. The airstrikes were aimed at preventing the group from using mustard gas. The information of the targets would have been passed by a member of the EI who was arrested. Laboratories and equipment extremist group were also targets.
chemical attack
The progress of the "Islamic State" in the development of chemical weapons is limited, but the group would have been able to manufacture mustard gas. Tests confirmed the use of this substance in the jihadist attacks in Syria in 2015 Augusts.
Experts say, however, that apparently the extremists do not have the capacity to produce such weapons in large-scale, which requires not only experience, but also appropriate equipment, materials and supply chain.
There are recent reports of chemical attack carried out by EI.
Iraqi Officials said more than 40 people suffered suffocation and skin irritation after an attack by jihadists on Tuesday in Taza, in the north. None of the victims died, but five remain hospitalized.
The governor of Kirkuk province, Najmuddin Kareem said that the substance used in the attack has not yet been identified. "The jihadists want to scare the people. They want to show they have chemical weapons to the former regime," Kareem said, cutting himself to attack the forces of Hussein to a Kurdish village in 1988, which left thousands dead.
In December last year, Washington began a new strategy, with a special unit to capture leaders of EI and gather information for attacks in clandestine operations.
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